The Rock
by lunatic922
Summary: Allison returns to Beacon Hills and has an unexpected run-in with Derek Hale. Derek drops a bombshell on her. A little bit Scallison, takes place after S2 finale. One-shot.


In the moonlight, it looked like an ordinary rock. Gray, lumpy, flat on one side. The rock came to knee-high. A few patches of lichen added hints of green to an otherwise plain granite marker in the Beacon Hills preserve.

But Allison Argent knew better.

This rock was special. This rock was _hers_. Hers and Scott's.

She thought of the boy she had loved. Still loved, if she was being honest with herself.

A werewolf—and an enemy of her family. But also, a boy. The boy she'd hurt by closing herself off. The boy she ignored by giving grief and rage reign over her heart. The boy she left behind when the school year closed.

She hadn't expected to return to Beacon Hills. But she and her father realized this was the closest they could ever come to a home. And so they returned to the town pariahs in familiar surroundings.

Allison no longer patrolled the woods as a hunter, searching for prey. She found herself wandering the paths that crisscrossed the forests of the Beacon Hill preserve all the same. The summer air was pleasant and her night-time excursions kept her senses sharp. Walking also helped keep the past at bay by forcing her to focus on the here and now.

But every night, she found herself drawn to their rock like a magnet. And then thoughts of Scott McCall intruded once more.

Gentle caresses. Promises exchanged. Heated looks of longing that only secret lovers share. Passionate kisses that caused her to flush at their memory, even months later.

"He's not coming."

Allison snapped back to the present. A man emerged from trees, dressed in worn out jeans and a fitted black T-shirt. He was young, remarkably fit. A dour frown ruined an otherwise handsome face.

Derek Hale.

Allison curled her lip at the sight of the alpha that bit her mother, compelling Victoria Argent to embrace death rather than life as a monster. To leave her family behind, rather than continue to live life as what she despised.

Derek mistook her icy silence as an invitation to continue.

"His scent is almost gone. Scott hasn't been here since you broke up. But _you_ have. In fact, you come here almost every night since you came back to town." Derek leaned against the trunk of an oak tree. "Must hurt, that he's not waiting for you, like a little puppy. Sad, really."

He grinned, baring razor-sharp fangs.

"Go to hell."

The former hunter moved to leave. She wouldn't rise to the bait. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of getting the better of her.

"Looks like I struck a nerve."

Allison whirled around, eyes flashing with anger.

"What do want, Derek? You've won. Scott and I are through—I'm not in your way anymore. Congratulations."

"You don't get it."

He took a step towards her. Instinctively, she stepped back. He smiled, and she cursed herself for backing down.

"And what don't I get, oh, wise Alpha? That is, if you still even have a pack."

"Funny."

"You ruined my family."

"Now you really _are_ being funny. I'd say I've hurt fewer people than you or your family ever has. Scott may have thought you needed his protection, but you and I know better. You can't play the innocent, Allison."

The sound of her name on his tongue brought her rage back up to the surface.

"And you can't play the self-righteous hero."

They stood there, eyes locked. Finally, Allison broke the silence.

"Is it so hard to believe that I care about Scott?"

For a moment, the werewolf's expression softened.

He seemed far away, and the look on his face was one she instantly recognized from those rare moments she caught Scott staring at her on the sly. With a sheepish grin, Scott would deny it. But she knew that expression.

It was love.

Allison wondered who had held the heart of Derek Hale before he'd become the untrusting man he was now. As quickly as it came, the dreamlike look vanished from Derek's face, replaced by his typical façade of cold stone.

"You, of all people Allison, should know better. You and Scott will never work."

Allison's stomach dropped when she remembered the danger her family's centuries' old mission posed to Scott. She remembered her desperate pleas when her dad held the barrel of a gun to Scott's head, threatening to end the boy if she didn't stop seeing him.

But Derek wasn't done with her.

"Do you know why it happened?"

Without needing to elaborate, Allison knew he meant her mother's death at his hands.

"Because she was a hunter. And you're a werewolf."

"Nothing's that simple."

"I know that."

Ever since they moved to Beacon Hills, her life had been anything but simple. She didn't need some near stranger lecturing her that life had become more complicated.

"Do you, really, Allison?"

Allison's resolve crystallized. What did Derek know of who she was? Of the hardships she had faced? _Nothing._ He didn't have the right to antagonize her. She didn't come to the woods looking for a fight. He had no right to pick one with her.

"I think I've had enough."

She again attempted to leave the clearing, her evening soured. But Derek continued to twist the knife.

"Your mother? The one you think I attacked without reason? While you were off having fun at the concert, she was murdering your boyfriend. You say you care about Scott, but if I hadn't stopped her, he would be dead right now. How would you have felt, then?"

Derek spat the words out.

"What?"

The news hit Allison like a wave of ice-water. Reeling, she collapsed onto the cool surface of the rock. It was all she had to steady herself.

Derek sneered, satisfied. The werewolf's words had their desired effect.

"Now you know the truth," Derek's voice was bitter, but his eyes gleamed triumphantly. "After all, it's the least you deserve."

He watched her for a moment before melting back into the darkness.

_All this time, and she never knew. _

Her mother tried to kill the first boy she loved. And for what? Allison knew the Scott wasn't a bad person. Surely, her mother had known that too. But he wasn't human. And that was reason enough for her mother.

How could Scott not say anything to her?

She remembered her anger at his disappearance after the rave, thinking he'd blown her off. All that time she froze him out, hurt by his lack of remorse. But he didn't say anything about what her mother did to him.

Not that the truth would heal her family or lessen the pain. Her mother was still gone, forever. All she had left was her Dad. The truth didn't make her hate Derek any less. But it did heighten her regret at lashing out against Erica, Isaac, and Boyd. Her self-disgust at her visceral reaction amplified.

What did this mean for her fate?

Her grandfather was revealed to be a manipulator and a villain. Her Aunt Kate, a cold-hearted murderer. What would she become? Would she continue down her family's path of violence?

She thought of her father, the one pillar left in her life. It was his idea to leave the order. He said he'd had enough bloodshed to last a lifetime. Now, more than ever, Allison felt they had made the right choice by hanging up their guns.

She wondered if she could ever face Scott now, knowing that she'd wrongly felt slighted by him. Knowing that she had almost lost him, but had been too blind to see the whole picture. Knowing that even when he nearly died at her mother's hands, he still cared only about protecting her feelings, instead of his own life.

What did he think of her? What _could_ he think of her? How could she ever expect him to forgive her? How could she forgive herself?

She traced her fingers over the faint chalk writing that had survived the dry summer. Scott's last message before her mother died:

_"Missed you."_

But is was she who missed him, now. More than he would ever know.


End file.
